This isn’t your grandma’s cucumber sandwich! We’ve jazzed up the classic teatime treat with gluten-free baguette, goat’s cheese, and, yes, even edible flowers! Orchids aren’t just for decoration any more. Now they add a subtly bitter flavour to balance out the sweet cool creaminess from our goat’s cheese and cucumber. This is a sandwich not to be missed even if you swap traditional tea for the long island version.

Look for gluten-free baguettes in the frozen section of your grocery or health food store. Gluten-free breads are typically frozen because of their short shelf life. Bonus for gluten-free baguette eaters because it means you get fresh out-of-the-oven bread every time. In fact, the only real difference besides the lack of gluten is that there is a faintly sweet egg flavour that we just can’t get enough of.

Ingredients:

1 gluten-free baguette, sliced into 1-inch thick pieces

1/2 cucumber, sliced thinly

3/4 cup goat's cheese, room temperature

1 cup mache lettuce or watercress

10 edible flowers (orchids, pansies, chrysanthemum petals, etc)

salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Prepare all of the ingredients.

2. Spread the goat's cheese on each of the gluten-free baguette slices. Arrange a few cucumber slices on each. Top with mache and edible flower. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Serve as soon as possible to avoid having the gluten-free baguette harden.

 Amanda Garbutt is the host of The Hot Plate, a free online cooking show dedicated to inspiring culinary confidence in new cooks. The Hot Plate also offers regular cooking tips and advice, how-tos, and information on seasonal ingredients.